“That one can convince one’s opponents with printed reasons, I have not believed since the year 1764. It is not for that purpose that I have taken up my pen, but rather merely to annoy them, and to give strength and courage to those on our side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us.”
G.C. Lichtenberg (1742 – 1799), courtesy of 'Deogolwulf'

Monday, 03 April 2017

So then, Mr. Xi, waddyagonna do?

As 'The Donald' will learn - er, he will learn, will he not? - this political lark is a damn sight more complicated than a really complicated thing! Poor Mr. Xi, the latter-day emperor of China, has two nutters to deal with as a matter of urgency. First there is 'Fat Boy Kim' who is hell bent on wrecking his toy cupboard as well as his country and, if necessary, the world. Then there is 'The Donald' who does totally unpredictable better than anyone. Of course, if Mr. Xi was as clever as he likes to pretend he is behind his inscrutable mask, he would have arranged a quiet assassination of 'Fat Boy' years ago and saved himself and his country and everyone else a lot of bother.

Alas, I suspect that Mr. Xi is not quite as secure in his presidential office as he might hope. His anti-American militarism no doubt pleases his General Staff who are almost certainly as stupid as most General Staffs throughout the ages, but letting a loon like 'Fat Boy' lead him by the nose is really dumb, and now that America is run by a man whose strategic decision-making is decided by which side of the bed he gets out from each morning leaves him in an all too real example of an 'unknown-unknown' situation! The Chinese are tremendous businessmen and so it is certain that Mr. Xi understands that the Chinese economy is balanced on one leg and any sort of major global explosion will bring it crashing down. If that happens, not only will the Generals be displeased but the 'People' (dread word!) will be incensed.

David, congratulations on being the only person on Earth to have divined Trump's decision making process. One thing about him that's not so funny, however, is what might happen if his popularity goes down a few more points and he decides the way to get the country behind him is to start a war.

One of the many conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination is that an intelligence service set up the deed. It was because Kennedy had fallen for the honey trap and developed a bad habit of bopping East German spies in the White House. Trump would seem an even fatter target, only the trap would be financial and the country Russia. If the McDonald's-eating septuagenarian clutches his chest and goes down on one of his luxury golf courses there will be lots of interesting fables.

At seventy, (just relying on statistics, mind) DJT is very likely, ahem, still capable. OTOH, most of us do, usually, come to a time when we are not led around by our most and least flexible appendage.

Despots like wars especially when they are looking for a crutch to help them hop around on one leg. So Duffers do not for one moment believe that Mr Xi will not become all belligerent like because of trade concerns if he suddenly decides the crutch is just what he needs to placate discontented peasants and bring them back on side.

If it hadn't been for a Service Housing Co-op [open to all ranks] I wouldn't have been able to buy my first home as the banks here, in my experience, regarded ALL service personnel as unreliable whether Officer, NCO or OR. As for an overdraft the bank would just laugh at you.

Henry..."Aside from winning the election, what has the President done that was "totally unpredictable"?" That's just it. He is being himself. The Democrats and their media are finally revealing themselves. We no longer have to worry about Russians infiltrating our government. Just Democrats.

BoE I joined in 1958, married in 1961 and started paying off my first house in 1964 so our time frames are not that far apart. The other issue is that here Officers were from across the broad spectrum of the community and commissioning from the ranks quite common.

Some in our Services relied on Service Housing due to the likelihood of being posted every couple of years but my Minister for Domestic Affairs took the long term view that the investment in a house was a good thing - and she was right.

David asserts, "Then there is 'The Donald' who does totally unpredictable better than anyone", for which he is congratulated by a knee-jerk with Trump-derangement syndrome. But if you pause for a moment and try to comprehend the meaning of David's assertion, does it make any sense to you?